Chapter 4: Overtime.

Sundown came at 5:00, like it usually did, prompting the tired citizens of Nome to start wrapping up their day. Thirty minutes afterwards it was closing time at Clancy's general store.

Tom yawned, admiring the shelf he had just finished restocking. He heard footsteps behind him and without having to turn around he knew it was his boss, checking on him. "Staying late again tonight?", Clancy asked curiously.

"Yep. I've got inventory right after this", Tom replied, moving some merchandise onto the next shelf.

Clancy shook his head. "You've got to get a full night's rest sooner or later", the man reasoned with him.

"I've gotta make ends meet too", Thomas countered.

"You have rich in-laws", Clancy suggested.

"That I don't want to have to rely on to pay the bills every time one of us gets sick", Tom pressed, in a tone that said he wouldn't be swayed. However, in a moment, fe felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

He glanced at his manager/friend standing beside him, eyebrow quirked. "You're either a real stubborn fool, or a real good husband. Maybe both", Clancy stated, scrutinizing him.

Tom cracked a little smile. "Well stubbornness does run in the family", he replied lightheartedly, which earned him a snort from his superior.

His boss stepped back and Tom resumed putting boxes on shelves. "Jeff and Connor have already gone for the night, and I've got to get back to my family", the man informed him.

"Let me guess, the missus will chew you out if you stay out too late?", Tom asked.

Clancy nodded. "We can't all have spouses who are willing to let us work ourselves to death", he joked.

"Mine's none too willing either", Tom admittedly thought in the back in his head, brow creasing.

Walking back up to Tom, the boss man grabbed his arm, opened his palm and dropped a key in it for safekeeping. "You're gonna have to lock up when you leave", he told him.

In the two years Thomas had been working for the man, this was a first. "You'd trust me to do that?", he asked, surprised.

"You're one of my best workers", Clancy reasoned. "And if you steal anything from me, I'll put the law on you before you could blink, so yes, I trust you", he added.

Tom didn't quite know what to make of that, so the tired man just mustered up a compliant smile. "Will do", he agreed. And just like that, with one last appraising look around his store and his poor, beleaguered employee, Clancy left, closing the front door behind him, and Tom was all alone with no other company but the food.

((()-()))

It was 7:00 by the time Tom actually locked up (by then Rosie would have returned from school, ate dinner, and was probably going to bed); he knew Evelyn was going to kill him when he got home. Which was a shame, cause the absolute last thing he'd want to do when he got back to the old homestead was argue with his wife. In fact, he doubted he would have the energy to eat the cold remains of the dinner he missed out on before he turned in.

The sleep deprived man could just barely keep his eyes open as he turned the key in the lock. He checked behind himself, making sure the door was really locked firmly and securely, before he turned and headed for home, stumbling his way down the street.

He was so glad there was no one else around to see him trip over his feet in an almost drunken fashion. He hated to admit it but Eve and Clancy were right, he couldn't keep doing this to himself. He'd either have to cave and go with Evy's idea or think of another solution to his problem.

As he left Clancy's store behind him, Tom had no clue that there actually was someone around to see his embarrassing missteps. Pete glanced at him with one eye, only half interested in the man's actions.

The feline sneaking out of the house at this hour was nothing unusual. Lots of cats liked to wander at night, prowling, exploring and doing typical cat things they couldn't normally do in the daytime. He felt a lot safer at night when Nome's huge canine populace were either sleeping or resting in the Old Mill. After what he saw that afternoon, the feline had especially decided to stay away from canids for a while. Sled dogs played just a little too rough for him.

So there he was, rooting through a trash can for some tossed-out food a cat might like and minding his own business, when something other than Tom (who had long since disappeared down the street and around the corner) caught his eye. Something interesting.

((()-()))

"Reminiscing" by James Horner begins.

Rosie hated to be in her dad's shoes. Tom's predictions of being chewed-out indeed came true. She'd been eavesdropping on her mother's outbursts and heard the woman finally change his mind on his work schedule; he'd simply been too exhausted to disagree with her. At least he wouldn't be running himself ragged anymore.

Pretty soon it was time for her to go to bed (she was a growing girl, and didn't need to stay up too late), so she went to brush her teeth first in the bathroom just down the hall from her bedroom.

While she was doing that, her pets waited for her on the rug lying before her bed. Before they got their forty winks, they decided to discuss some troubling matters. Not Mickey of course, they didn't want to think about that problem until it actually became a problem. Instead, Jenna chose to vent about something that had really annoyed her earlier.

"So then she asked me if we'd 'consummated our marriage' yet", she griped, recounting what her friend Dixie had asked her that afternoon, in the middle of Star's lesson.

"Kaltag asked me the same thing", Balto told her, if it was any consolation.

Jenna scoffed, unsurprised. "It's like they have no respect for our privacy", she complained.

"I think we both gave up privacy when we befriended them", Balto smirked. "And I think the trade-off was worth it, considering how many times they've had our backs when we needed them", he added.

Jenna frowned, wanting to stay angry for a while longer but unable to, unfortunately, because of her mate's really good point. She sighed. "I know", the frustrated husky conceded.

Balto leaned towards her, arching his eyebrow mischievously. "Besides, whether or not we did actually 'consummate the marriage' on our honeymoon is something only we'll ever know", he reminded her with a whisper (a rather sexy whisper in Jenna's opinion, that brought back rather pleasant memories) that turned her frown upside down. And brought a short, sweet kiss to his lips.

Rosie still wasn't back yet by the time they were done, so they switched to another related topic.

"Speaking of our honeymoon, it's been almost a week since then. Your first week as a housedog. How was it?", Jenna asked her husband.

The wolf-dog thought for a moment, furrowing his brow, and the best, singular word he could think of to describe it was "Busy".

"It'll get easier when you get into a routine", Jenna said reassuringly, being the helpful coach she promised him she would be. But to her surprise, reassurance wasn't needed.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's a good kind of busy. Better than I thought it would be", he explained before chuckling, for reasons only he knew about.

"What?", Jenna inquired, knowing him well enough to know he was thinking about something.

"It's just Kaltag thought I would get bored with being an ordinary citizen; that I'd miss 'the wild life' of a stray. But he forgets I've almost died, three times in my life. Which is three times too many in my opinion", the wolf-dog expressed, to his wife's amusement. "I welcome boring and mundane. I'm in no hurry for some other life-threatening thing to happen", he stated.

"I hear that", his wife agreed with him.

Little feet pitter-pattered down the hallway and seconds later Roslyn finally joined them, dressed now in comfy pajamas; the girl moved to turn out the lights. She was careful not to accidentally step on one of her dogs in the darkened room and climbed into bed, pulling the invitingly warm covers over her and closing her eyes.

Her friends didn't need any covers, they had their fur to keep them warm. They licked each other on the noses one last time and wished each other a good night before closing their eyes and letting their bodies rest for the brand new day ahead of them.

Balto was of course thinking about what he'd told Jenna. He wasn't the type who went looking for danger and excitement, not really. The trouble was, it usually found him. And he figured it wouldn't be long before it found him again.

((()-()))

Friday, February 19, 1925.

"You're doing the right thing, dear", Evelyn assured her beloved, checking on the waffles.

Tom nodded but he didn't reply vocally, he didn't want to let on how glum he was. His were eyes downcast at the bacon strips he was eating and the newspaper he was reading. He didn't feel like he was doing the right thing. After breakfast, he was going to call Clancy and ask for the day off, when he was so close to earning the last portion he needed. He felt like he was giving up.

Still, he could understand why Evelyn was so relieved. She had already watched one of her loved ones come down terribly sick, she didn't want it to happen again anytime soon. This was the right thing to do, for his health, for her peace of mind, and his daughter's peace of mind (who had seen so little of her old man lately). He'd earned more than half of the bill with his own weekly salary; that did make him feel better about needing help with the remainder. And there was no point in him sulking about it.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to buck up and looked up from his newspaper. "Evy", he caught his wife's attention..

"Yes?", she replied, looking back at him.

"Thanks for looking out for me", he said gratefully, meeting her eyes with his own warm pupils.

His wife's expression steadily relaxed and she smiled a pretty white smile. "Well, someone has to", she joked. But he knew her well enough to know she appreciated what he said. They both beamed at each other for a bit longer before she went back to baking.

Even though they were currently pretending not to be listening in, Rosie, Balto and Jenna were all relieved to hear things were back to normal. Tom was a big enough man to swallow his pride, and everything was going to be alright from here on out. Well, with the Jones clan at least; there was still that Mickey thing.

Balto's ears pricked up, and in a moment, he and Jenna both stopped eating. They thought they had heard the dog door flap open in the other room, which meant they had visitors. Sure enough their 'circle' of friends appeared from the living room and invaded their kitchen.

They brushed past Evelyn's legs on the way in, tickling her skin with their fur. Most housewives would have been disgusted or horrified by seven dogs swarming all around them, around their freshly cooked meal. But Evelyn had been exposed to so many dogs in her life they barely even fazed her now. Especially since she recognized these dogs as being friends of the family, the ones she always saw hanging around Balto and Jenna. A few of them were even part of Gunnar Kaasen's team (she was fairly sure Nikki, Kaltag, and Star were their names). So she only had one thing to say about their arrival. "Don't think I'm feeding all of you", she muttered grumpily.

And then she heard a knock on the kitchen door. More visitors; these ones were human apparently, since they had to actually knock instead of just barging in.

She made a move towards the door but Thomas, being closer to it than she was, made a move to stand up from the table. "I'll get it", he decided.

Balto and Jenna were more intrigued by the company they were already entertaining. If it had just been Dixie and Sylvie who had stopped by so early in the morning (7:00 was early for them), then Jenna would have just thought they had some new gossip so juicy they couldn't wait to share it with her. But Balto's teammates being there as well she couldn't explain. Nor the worried expressions on all their faces.

Then again, there was always the possibility that something was wrong, sitting uncomfortably in the back of both dogs' minds, and if that was the case, Balto had a pretty good idea what it was about.

But before they could ask their visitors anything, their friends were forced to step aside and make room for Tom, who moved carefully through the crowd of dogs (not wanting to step on anyone's tails). When he made to it to the door, Balto immediately turned to Nikki.

"Guys, what is it? What's wrong?", he asked, deciding to skip his usual greeting for a change.

"You won't believe what happened last night", the chow-chow insisted, being unhelpfully vague and mysterious.

Tom was in for a surprise when he opened the door. He, his wife and his daughter didn't expect Sheriff Marcus and one of his deputies to be standing on the other side of the frame, their faces blank and emotionless.

"Mark?", Tom probed in disbelief.

The sheriff didn't respond, for the sake of keeping things neat, formal and detached. "Thomas Jones, can you come with us for questioning?", the lawman asked, though he worded it as a request, his tone made it clear to the American that he was issuing an order.

By that point, Tom was gaping, not having a clue what was happening, and Balto didn't look all that different from him.

"We were gonna tell ya… Clancy's was robbed last night", Star filled the half-breed in, just a touch too late.

Trouble thy name is Balto.